A "raver" is one who goes to raves. Contrary to popular belief, there are many different types of ravers.

First there are Candy Ravers; these are the ones you see running around shouting things like "PLUR!" or "Want a hug/sucker/glowstick/massage?" They are identifiable by their brightly colored clothing (phat pants being a must...if they're made of fun fur, all the better), enough Candy (brightly colored bead bracelets)to sink the Titanic, oodles of children's toys, as well as a few glowsticks and pacifiers. Candy kids are known as the cutest/most annoying people you will ever meet. A lot of them are pretty fake - it's impossible to be that happy all the time. Candy Kids are also notorious for being users of the drug Ecstasy - this is not entirely accurate, but with the way they dress and act, its not hard to see why this is assumed.

Next we have the "Goth" ravers. They're quite easy to spot - they will be dressed in all black, preferably incorperating some fishnet, spikes, and buckles into their outfits. The more there are the better. They will not socialize outside of the group they came with, and they will NEVER under any circumstances dance. They're too goth for that - dancing equates to happiness and celebration, and that's just not cool.

Ginos and Ginas (also known as "hoochies"). These are those well-dressed, snooty people that really shouldn't even be at a rave. The only reason they're at the party is to pick up on some 15 year old e-tard. Well, maybe not, but they certainly are only at the party to get a piece of ass. They will be dressed in whatever is "trendy" and do not know how to dance.

Next are junglists. Junglists are often viewed as being "agro". They listen primarily to Jungle/DnB music, and are partial to camo, hoodies, and clothing in dark colors. Popular junglist hairstyles are dreads (m+f), short hair (m+f), or short with two long bits in the front (f). Quite a few junglists are ex-candy ravers. They may also be "old-skool" or "jaded".

Old-skool and jaded pretty much fall into the same category. Old-skoolers are ravers who have been in the scene since "way back in the day". No matter how good the party is, the music/DJs/parties/drugs/people/anything else about the scene was WAY better when they first started raving. A jaded raver is not nessicarily old skool, but shares the same views as the old skooler.

And even still there are many ravers that do not fall into any of these categories. So...perhaps a raver is simply one who goes to parties to dance the night away, and loves the music. Interesting concept, hey?

Because I noticed a lot of the entries consisting of a whole shitload of bias, I'll try to do this from an objective position. A raver can be anyone who attends an all night party (could be underground and small or "bust-free" and a massive) consisting of DJs who play electronic dance music (for example: trance, house, happy hardcore, drum & bass, etc.) frequently. There is still debate about whether or not someone is considered a "raver" if they only attend the massives and never go to any of the smaller, underground ones. A raver does not have to use ecstasy; some have chosen to dance sober therefore being called a raver does not necessarily mean being called a drug addict. It is, however, quite a popular drug in the scene, nonetheless, since it enhances the music and the lights for most people as well as gets rid of any inhibitions. The rave scene in England officially started in 1987/1988 while in America, it started in the early 90s. The rave culture is still going strong although raves are much more commercialized now than when the movement first began.

The meaning of PLUR:
• Peace - to stay cool with all people around them thus uplifting the culture
• Love - to stay close to all other ravers making rave one big family.
• Unity - to stand together for the one cause to party.
• Respect- to understand the world they're in and those trying for improvement.

My raver friend Linda has gone to DDR, Future Ape, Nocturnal Wonderland, Monster Massive, and Together As One this year.

In England the term raver is used by a broad spectrum of society to describe the practice of dancing in a club/ware house all night .The word was borrowed from Jamaican slang meaning the same thing (Bob Marley "Midnight Ravers"). Originating from illegal parties that spread all over England like wild fire in 1988 (The second summer of love) millions of people would flock to a secret outdoor location or derelict building , Keeping details secret till the last minute and arrive in a convoy . The movement was responsible for breaking down social barriers including racism (Rave against racism).The music on offer was “Rave” , “Hardcore” , “Detroit Techno” and “Acid House”

Electronic dance music quickly evolved , and split into many different scenes with very different ethos and ideas attached to each scene. The scenes range from fluffy glow stick trance heads to weapon carrying garage/grime gangsters. In the 90s the scene was commercialised to the extent that raves where multimillion pound industries run by corporate companies and nearly every kid in the UK was a raver listening to “Happy Hardcore” a very cheesy form of dance music with a 4 to the floor kick drum and chip monk vocals (chart hits speeded up). This eventually made the term a dirty word.

Now days the term is becoming fashionable again and the majority of ravers are just normal English kids who love electronic music and dancing (normally involving taking drugs).The phrase rave or raver is mainly used now days by the drum and bass and garage scenes, but is now used more than ever to describe all night parties where electro house , tech house and minimal techno are played particularly in East London, a taste maker for a lot of English dance music

"big shout going out to raver massive" - drum and bass MC

"she's been out every weekend this year, she's a right little raver" - friends comment

A mass gathering of like minded individuals all seeking to be in that ONE FAMILY from around 10pm til 6am usually taking place on weekends, unless of course a bank holiday springs up.

Ages range from teenagers to oap's and some inbetween but not many.

They seek loud music in the forms of drum and bass, happy hardcore, bassline etc etc

They will all say when questioned they have come to see a particular artist (Dj or Mc) but most of them will not remember this individuals set as they would of been too busy busting shapes, merking, silly skanking or just getting totally spandangled.

Not many ravers are satisfied until they have heard the last one and they are all dancing like spazza's at the end.

Even then it still prooves difficult to remove them from the dancefloor. As when the music is stopped they can still hear the repetitive beats playing in there brains.

Because I noticed a lot of the entries consisting of a whole shitload of bias, I'll try to do this from an objective position. A raver can be anyone who attends an all night party (could be underground and small or "bust-free" and a massive) consisting of DJs who play electronic dance music (for example: trance, house, happy hardcore, drum & bass, etc.) frequently. There is still debate about whether or not someone is considered a "raver" if they only attend the massives and never go to any of the smaller, underground ones. A raver does not have to use ecstasy; some have chosen to dance sober therefore being called a raver does not necessarily mean being called a drug addict. It is, however, quite a popular drug in the scene, nonetheless, since it enhances the music and the lights for most people as well as gets rid of any inhibitions. The rave scene in England officially started in 1987/1988 while in America, it started in the early 90s. The rave culture is still going strong although raves are much more commercialized now than when the movement first began.

The meaning of PLUR:
• Peace - to stay cool with all people around them thus uplifting the culture
• Love - to stay close to all other ravers making rave one big family.
• Unity - to stand together for the one cause to party.
• Respect- to understand the world they're in and those trying for improvement.

My raver friend Linda has gone to DDR, Future Ape, Nocturnal Wonderland, Monster Massive, and Together As One this year.

The usual general term of raver is people who go to all night long parties. The real ravers are those who don't classify themselves as a raver unless completely misunderstood as to how exactly they party when asked.

kandy Kids- "Kids" who wear brightly colored plastic beads refered to as kandy. They typically wear oversized pants featuring children cartoons such as care bears, spongebob, rainbowbrite, etc. They love to spread P.L.U.R.R.(Peace Love Unity Respect Responsibility) around. They love to write on you with UV reactive markers, give hugs, lightshows, always carry glowsticks and blinkies, pass out stickers and candy. Typically their musical choice is Happy Hardcore, number one, and trance. Kandy kids today usually are E-tards. The real kandy kids are those who go to raves, spread P.L.U.R.R., love and all that good stuff but do it sober.

Jugalist- Typical jungalist HATE kandy kids. They find their whole "act" annoying. Jungalist are also "supposed" to hate glowsticks. They mostly listen to Jungle/DnB. They like to wear earth tone colors, like dark green, brown etc.